Critical Contrast: Vigil Neuroscience (NASDAQ:VIGL) versus ProKidney (NASDAQ:PROK)

Vigil Neuroscience (NASDAQ:VIGL) and ProKidney (NASDAQ:PROK) are both small-cap medical companies, but which is the superior investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their profitability, dividends, risk, earnings, institutional ownership, analyst recommendations and valuation.

Risk & Volatility

Vigil Neuroscience has a beta of 1.65, meaning that its share price is 65% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, ProKidney has a beta of 1.27, meaning that its share price is 27% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

83.6% of Vigil Neuroscience shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 51.6% of ProKidney shares are owned by institutional investors. 33.0% of Vigil Neuroscience shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 41.5% of ProKidney shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Profitability

This table compares Vigil Neuroscience and ProKidney’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Vigil Neuroscience	N/A	-83.89%	-65.34%
ProKidney	N/A	N/A	-10.24%

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of current ratings and recommmendations for Vigil Neuroscience and ProKidney, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Vigil Neuroscience	1	0	5	0	2.67
ProKidney	0	3	2	0	2.40

Vigil Neuroscience presently has a consensus price target of $16.60, suggesting a potential upside of 612.45%. ProKidney has a consensus price target of $4.50, suggesting a potential upside of 117.39%. Given Vigil Neuroscience’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities analysts plainly believe Vigil Neuroscience is more favorable than ProKidney.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Vigil Neuroscience and ProKidney”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Vigil Neuroscience	N/A	N/A	-$82.64 million	($2.06)	-1.13
ProKidney	N/A	N/A	-$35.47 million	($0.55)	-3.76

ProKidney is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Vigil Neuroscience, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

About Vigil Neuroscience

Vigil Neuroscience, Inc., a clinical-stage biotechnology company, focuses on developing treatments for rare and common neurodegenerative diseases by restoring the vigilance of microglia, the sentinel immune cells of the brain. Its lead candidate is VGL101(Iluzanebart), a human monoclonal antibody agonist targeting human triggering receptor expressed on myeloid cells 2 and is in a Phase 2 trial in patients with adult-onset leukoencephalopathy with axonal spheroids and pigmented glia (ALSP), a rare and fatal neurodegenerative disease. The company is also developing VG-3927, an orally-available small molecule TREM2 agonist to treat common neurodegenerative diseases associated with microglial dysfunction, with an initial focus on Alzheimer’s disease in genetically defined subpopulations, which is being evaluated in a Phase 1 clinical trial. It has license agreement with Amgen Inc. to commercially develop, manufacture, use, distribute, and sell therapeutic products containing compounds that bind to TREM2. The company was incorporated in 2020 and is headquartered in Watertown, Massachusetts.

About ProKidney

ProKidney Corp., a clinical-stage biotechnology company, provides transformative proprietary cell therapy platform for treating various chronic kidney diseases in the United States. The company's lead product is Renal Autologous Cell Therapy (REACT), an autologous homologous cell admixture, which has completed Phase I clinical trial for REACT in patients with congenital anomalies of the Kidney and Urinary Tract (CAKUT), as well as in Phase III and Phase II clinical trials for the treatment of moderate to severe diabetic kidney disease. ProKidney Corp. founded in 2015 and is headquartered in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.